Reprinted with permission from the 2016 October/November Double Toe Times Clogging Magazine
Throw the ultimate clogger’s Christmas party this year from start to finish with fun ideas for games and activities. Cloggers know how to have fun, but you can enhance your class or club’s Holiday with fun games and activities. Whether you’re looking for kid-friendly games to keep the little ones busy or Christmas party games for adults only, here are some ideas for holiday games to keep the party in full swing.
Christmas Party Games And Ideas
Finding the best Christmas party game for your event is easier than you think. Once you assess how many guests you expect to attend and the age groups, you can plan out your entertainment from there.
White Elephant
This is a classic gift exchange game that small to large groups love to play during the holidays. In order to play this game, you should instruct each player ahead of time to bring a wrapped gift to contribute to a general gift table. Each player then chooses a gift from the table one by one but has the alternate option to steal another player’s gift. The game finally ends when there aren’t any gifts left on the table. Here are the basic rules:
- Each player brings one wrapped gift to contribute to a common pool. The gift exchange organizer should provide information on what type of gift people should bring.
- Players draw names to determine what order they will go in. Alternatively, everyone can draw from a hat, or have their order set by the organizer prior to the event.
- Players sit in a circle or line where they can see the gift pile. To make things easier, everyone should sit in the order in which they will take their turns.
- The first player selects a gift from the pool and opens it. Make sure everyone can see the gift!
- The following players can choose to either pick an unwrapped gift from the pool or steal a previous player’s gift. Anyone who gets their gift stolen in this way can do the same – choose a new gift or steal from someone else. To keep things moving along, there are a couple of limits on gift swapping: A present can only be stolen once per turn, which means players who have a gift stolen from them have to wait to get it back. After three swaps, the turn automatically comes to an end (otherwise things could drag on for a long time).
- After all players have had a turn, the first player gets a chance to swap the gift he or she is holding for any other opened gift. Anyone who’s gift is stolen may steal from someone else (as long as that person hasn’t been stolen from yet). When someone declines to steal a gift, the game comes to an end.
Note that for this last “extra” turn, the threeswap rule doesn’t apply.
Players can keep swapping until someone decides to stand pat, or there are no other eligible people to steal from.
Christmas and Clogging Charades
Organize a festive game of Christmas charades for your guests and act out some of your favorite holiday and clogging activities (without saying a word). Popular items on your list of charades include decorating a tree, having a snowball fights, ice skating, and on the clogging side use step names (high horse, clogover vine, rocking chair, etc.) or think of steps or clogging terms that acting out might make funnier (such as outhouse, hoedown, petticoat, etc.).
Christmas Carol Pictionary Relay
Transform the classic drawing game of pictionary into a festive relay all about Christmas carols. In order to play this game, players must get the name of the song from the game organizer and draw out their song. Teams do their best to guess which song is the answer based off their representative’s drawing. The team representative then races back to the organizer to grab another carol until they complete three rounds of pictionary. The team that is able to correctly guess their three songs first is the winner.
Christmas Clogger Bingo
Play a game of bingo with loved ones and swap the numbers for a 4×4 card of popular Christmas and Clogging symbols! You can find and download a blank bingo cards or even Christmas bingo cards on the internet to keep things simple.
You can also use the bingo game as a means of getting cloggers and their family members and guests a chance to get to know each other better. Based on your knowledge of your dancers and their families, fill in the spaces on the card with facts about persons in the group and have attendees go around the room trying to find out who matches each of the facts in order to make a “Bingo.” Examples me be, “works at a post office,” “practices in a garage,” “owns more than three pairs clogging shoes,” “is a 3rd generation clogger,” “can’t read a cue sheet,” etc.
Stocking Guessing Game
Surprise your guests with Christmas stockings full of odd objects and have them guess what is in the stocking. Players can feel the stocking but can’t look inside. After the game is over, let the winner with the most correct guesses keep the stocking!
Name That Christmas or Clogging Song
Break the ice at your Christmas party by dividing your guests into 2 to 3 teams for the perfect holiday guessing game. This competition challenges teams to write down the name of a Christmas or Clogging tune after you say one line of the song out loud. Remember to keep your answers handy as you’ll want to verify which team accumulated the most answers with the correct song.
It is harder than you think. “Moonlit shadow, she starts a trippin’ firelight … Jumpin’ the trees lyin’ across the right of way.”
Do you know what popular clogging song that line is from?
High Horse, of course!
Christmas or Dance Movie Trivia
Test your holiday attendees with a fun game about their Christmas or Dance movie knowledge! You can ask questions like “What was the name of Rudolph’s Dad,” “Why did the Grinch hate Christmas,” “Who never gets put in the corner?” or “She’s a maniac, maniac…
where?” to refresh everyone’s memory.
Christmas Mad Libs
Play a simple game of Christmas or Clogging mad libs by providing a printed story with blanks to fill in nouns, verbs, etc. to participants. This is a classic storytelling activity so remember to reward the individual or team with the most interesting story a prize. Do an internet search for rules and descriptions of the way to write your stories with blanks.
Gift Wrap Relay
This game is all about speed and gifts. Host a gift wrap relay this holiday season by dividing your guests into two teams. You can then set aside two tables at opposite ends of the room with unwrapped gifts and wrapping paper supplies. Guests will then race one by one to their respective tables and wrap a gift as fast as possible. This game ends when the winning team finishes wrapping all of their gifts.
Candy Canes
This is a festive Christmas game that involves only candy canes! Players are given one minute to use a candy cane to pick up as many candy canes from an individual bowl as possible. However, the catch is that they must use their mouth to hold the main candy cane. The player who collects the most candy canes before time is up wins.
Christmas Card Swap
Ask all of your guests to bring 2 to 3 different photo Christmas cards of themselves from when they were a child for this fun icebreaker game. When guests arrive at the party, they’ll drop one of their cards into a basket. Once all of the guests have arrived and contributed Christmas cards, each guest will choose a card from the basket and try and match the card with a guest at the party. The first person to match their selected card with the guest who’s in the photo wins.
Alternatively, you can ask guests to bring a photo of themselves as a child in general if they’re unable to find an old photo Christmas card. Since guests will be bringing 2 to 3 cards/photos, you can play this game more than once at your party.
Christmas Party Activities
In addition to hosting Christmas party games, it can be just as rewarding and fun to set aside a few activities for attendees that aren’t interested in the competition. Everything from cookies and gingerbread houses to karaoke and photo booth props can be used to liven up your party.
Cookie Decorating Station
Grab your family and friends for a cookie decorating table with plenty of icing, sprinkles, and edible Christmas toppings. This is a fun and creative way to keep attendees busy and entertained, especially for family-oriented Christmas parties. You can stock up on a variety of toppings and festive icings to offer attendees a wide selection of decorating options.
Gingerbread House Decorating
Prepare a few gingerbread houses and let your guests get carried away with gingerbread house decorating!
You can let families or couples decorate houses together or let everyone choose a partner to decorate. Provide plenty of icing, different colored gum drops, and any other creative toppings you can think of.
Christmas Crafts
You can never go wrong with an hour or two of holiday arts and crafts. Collect an array of Christmas-oriented materials, patterned paper, and supplies so guests can make their own Christmas ornaments, cards, or mini-trees. Consider having a volunteer supervise the table if kids will be making arts and
crafts.
Tree Decorating: Gather your loved ones for a tree decorating session before food and drinks. You can have each guest make an ornament at your party or bring their own ornament to make this activity special. Don’t forget to keep the Christmas music flowing for this cherished activity.
Christmas Card Crafts
Have guests bring new or old Christmas cards to create a fun Christmas card project! Whether it’s a collage or making ornaments out of Christmas cards, this is a fun way to add Christmas family photos to the mix and make use of extra Christmas cards.
Christmas Carols
End your party with a Christmas caroling trip around the neighborhood with your loved ones or set aside time to sing popular Christmas carols at your party. This is a traditional holiday activity that never gets old.
Christmas Karaoke
Host a Christmas karaoke hour for your loved ones who wait all year for their favorite holiday tunes. Do your best to find karaoke versions of popular Christmas songs and set aside two mics just in case a duet is in store.
Christmas Photo Booth
Gather all of the funny and entertaining Christmas props you can and build your own Christmas photo booth. You can use elf ears, Santa hats, candy canes, and anything else that can add laughter to these photos.
To Wrap Up…
A few games and activities spread throughout your holiday celebration can enhance all of your Christmas party ideas. Organizing holiday-oriented entertainment always creates a warm and festive environment that spreads the season’s cheer. If any of your games or activities require the guest to bring something, don’t forget to mention this on your Christmas party invitations so everyone is on the same page. Lastly, don’t forget to have a class or club member, friend or family member help you day-of so you can enjoy your Christmas party too.
